


An Altered Tale

by Paulgrobe



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Altertale (Undertale), Female Chara (Undertale), Gen, Narrator Chara (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26594185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paulgrobe/pseuds/Paulgrobe
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	1. The Human

"Air quality: 46, average… Temperature: 17°C, looks like summer is starting up there... Humidity: 42%, also average..." Gaster wrote down these measurements in his notebook, below various other ones. Various measuring devices were scattered onto the patch of grass around him. This concluded his monthly trek to write down the statistics of the various locations that formed the Underground, to see if the living standards weren't decreasing. Fortunately, not much had changed compared to last time, and monsterkind could live a bit longer.  
He had nearly finished packing up his tools into a big, brown suitcase, when he heard a sudden noise from the room next door. He looked up in irritation. "Who is there?! I thought i had explicitly told i do not wish to be disturbed during my measuri-" Then the realisation hit. That noise didn't come from the Ruins, but from the cave on the other side of the one he was sitting in. The cave that contained one of the only openings to the Surface. Whatever had made that noise wasn't a monster. He summoned a row of bones in front of him, forming a shield. If the noise came from a human, like he suspected, there was a high probability they would be hostile.  
As he entered the cave, he saw a young human girl lying on the patch of grass, with her face down. While she seemed to be unconscious, Gaster did not take any ris, and with a swift move of his hand, her body was lifted upward. She gave no reaction whatsoever, and Gaster lowered her back onto the ground, ensured it was not a trap and the girl was truly unconscious. He sat down onto the ground. "What to do?...", he mumbled to himself.  
Gaster had no clue how many hours had passed when the guardsman stormed into the room. "My king, i know you told us to not disturb you, but it took so long-" He stopped when he saw the girl lying on the ground, and stumbled backwards. "Is that… A human?" Gaster looked up, and simply nodded. The guardsman came closer and looked at her. "She's alive."  
"Yes", Gaster said. "Unconscious, but alive." The guardsman reached for his weapon, but Gaster raised his hand. "If i wished for the girl to die, i would have killed her myself", he said. "No, i wish to take her to the castle to conduct research on her." The guardsman tried to object, but Gaster stood up and faced the guardsman, his pupils having disappeared. "That was an order. She shall be taken to the castle so she can be researched. I wish to hear no more objections. Understood?"  
The guardsman jumped backwards in surprise from Gaster's sudden shift in behavior and quickly saluted. "Y-yes my king! Immediately my king!"

"When the girl woke up, she found herself lying in a bed. "I expected the beds in heaven to be a bit comfier…", she mumbled. She tried to lift up her arm, but found it strapped to the bed, and attached to a bunch of tubes. When she moved her head around, she saw various monitors, including what seemed to be a heartbeat monitor. In between the monitors stood a chair, with a tall and extremely pale, bald man sitting on it, staring at her with a strange fascination, while writing something down in a small black notebook. When she saw the man's hand, her heart stopped for a moment. It was not a human hand she was looking at, but one completely made of bone. And a closer look at his face made her realize it was not a human face either, but the skull of a skeleton. In a panic, she attempted to release her arms from the straps, with little success. The man stood up and walked towards her, and her breathing stopped out of fear.  
"I hope you forgive me for doing some tests on you while you were unconscious. You see, i never had the opportunity to conduct research on a human before, and i was afraid you wouldn't let me while awake", the skeleton spoke, while she just stared at him with large afraid eyes. "No need to be afraid, child. If i wanted you dead, you would be already", he spoke when seeing her fear. "But let me introduce myself. My name is Gaster, and i am the king of the monsters. Now, could you please tell your name?"  
"C-chara", the girl managed to bring out. "W-where am i?" Gaster sighed before answering, while starting to remove Chara's straps.  
"This is the Underground, a prison to all of monsterkind, surrounded by an impenetrable barrier. One can get in, but not out. Unfortunately, this means you are stuck here as well, so you will have to consider this as your new home." As Gaster removed the straps, he pressed a button, and moments later, a canine guardswoman came in. Gaster spoke to her. "I order you to keep an eye on the girl. At the first sign of hostile intent, detain her immediately and bring her to me, if possible. If things get out of hand, you are allowed to use lethal force. Now, please take her to her new room."  
The guardswoman nodded and walked towards Chara with a cold expression on her face. "You. Follow me." Chara hesitantly stood up to follow her. As they were walking through the hallways, the canine monster started talking. "Listen up, human. If the king hadn't ordered us to keep you alive, i would have torn you to shreads already. But you heard his orders, and if you try anything, i WILL kill you with no hesitation. Understood?"  
Chara quickly nodded to not anger the guardswoman. "What have i gotten myself into?", she thought by herself, hoping not all monsters were like this. But her thinking was interrupted when the dog monster halted in front of a door, telling her in 2 words they reached her room. Chara opened the door.


	2. Monsterkind

Chara looked at her room in awe. The room was more luxurious than anything they could have ever imagined. The guardswoman growled. "I can't believe our king lets you, a HUMAN, live in such luxury... Now get in." She pushed Chara through the doorway so forcefully it caused her to fall onto the ground. The door closed behind Chara, and she could hear the door being locked from the outside. While luxurious, her room was very much a prison. She walked up to the other side of the room, where there was a barred window. Down below, she saw what seemed to be a marketplace, filled with creatures in all shapes and sizes. There were humanoid rabbits who were talking to each other while surrounded by dozens of children, monsters with many arms and eyes who tried to advertise stalls filled with clothes or push suspicious looking products in the face of anyone who came too close, strange creatures that looked like a mix of dogs and cats that rapidly vibrated and zipped between stalls in the blink of an eye, a turtle monster leaning onto a large hammer that seemed to tell a story to a group of children, and this was only the tip of the iceberg of the creatures she saw.   
"Can i have your attention, please?." As the turtle monster was swinging around his hammer to demonstrate an action-filled moment, Gaster's voice sounded throughout the room. Chara jumped up in surprise and turned around. However, nobody else was in the room besides her, and the voice seemed to come from the walls. "Good", he spoke again. "Within 10 minutes, dinner shall be served. I have made the royal cooks prepare a wide array of dishes and drinks for this first time, seeing as i am not familiar with human tastes, so feel free to take what looks like what is to your liking. After you are finished, Doge will escort you to the library, where you shall receive insights in monster culture, biology and history. Enjoy your meal, and if you have any requests, feel free to ask them via the phone next to the door."   
It became silent again, and around 5 minutes later, one of the many-armed monsters she saw on the marketplace down below silently came in, with each of his arms filled with plates and cups. Upon closer inspection, Chara noticed he was very spider-like, but when she asked if he was one, the monster started to rapidly put down the contents of his hands without saying anything, and she could see a glimpse of fear in his eyes. Meanwhile, Doge was glaring suspiciously at Chara until the monster left the room and the door got locked again. Chara examined the plates and cups, and picked a donut to start with. As her teeth sank into the baked good, she noticed it didn't taste or feel like the donuts from the surface, and as she looked at it, she let out a scream and quickly dropped it onto the ground. Inside of the donut were spiders…  
Mere moments after she finished her dinner (the rest of the dishes were miles better than the spider donut, and she especially liked an odd type of cider), Doge came in and ordered Chara to come with her. In the hallways, the same spider that served her pushed himself against the wall as they walked past. "You scared him", Doge said without further explanation.   
When they reached the library, Gaster was already waiting. He waved Doge away, and closed the doors. "Welcome to my favorite room", he spoke. "I am a scientist, you see, and the books here contain all documented history and knowledge monsterkind possesses. Today, i shall tell you about why we are trapped down here." He opened an old looking book, the pages of which had turned yellow. As he opened the book on the first page, Chara saw a drawing of a faceless poncho'd human that vaguely resembled her, standing next to an also faceless skeleton monster. Gaster started reading  
"A long time ago, 2 races used to rule over Earth: humans and monsters. Despite our differences, we lived together in peace. However, this all changed one day, when a monster accidentally absorbed the soul of their dying human friend. They became more powerful than one could ever imagine, and their appearance was something previously unseen. Word spread quickly, and the king of the nation, terrified this power would be used against him, twisted the events and framed the monster for killing the human. The poor soul was publicly executed the day after, and the king ordered for all monsters under his rule to suffer the same fate. More human nations started to follow this policy, and more and more individuals in those that didn't started slaughtering their former neighbours and friends out of their new fear. Monster nations retaliated, and a war broke out between the 2 races. While we fought the best we could, the power of humankind was too much for us. We lost, and our numbers had reduced drastically as we surrendered. While the last survivors originally were planned to be publicly executed, some of the more merciful monarchs managed to alter our fate. 7 mages sealed us away under Mt. Ebott, the location the final battle took place at, never to be heard of by humankind again... This was the tale of the war between humans and monsters…"


End file.
